Calendar of Events

There's always something going on at the Rockfish Grill and Anacortes Brewery. Check out our calendar for upcoming special events. Visit the Rockfish Grill for live entertainment including the best in jazz, blues and beyond.

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THE ATLANTICS

Paul Klein was raised in Oregon and grew up listening to the great Northwest Dance bands like Paul Revere, The Wailers, Kingsmen, Sonics in Junior High. At 17, his life changed when he heard Muddy Waters, and Buddy Guy and Junior Wells and a generous mixture of the San Francisco Psychedelic bands the came through Portland. In 1976, he moved to Bellingham, Washington to join a band called Wet Paint and after a couple great years touring in an old school bus, started another band called Eddie and the Atlantics with the guitarist and friend Jim Fricke. They enjoyed playing in Seattle at the Fabulous Rainbow where they met a great community of local musicians that were part of a great vibrant music scene.

The band name was simplified down to "The Atlantics" when Paul assumed leadership for the future of the band, which has been a local favorite in Bellingham for the past 30+ years.

Vocalist and bassist "Little Bill" Engelhart is the founder and front man for the Blue Notes - one of the first Northwest rhythm and blues groups and a contemporary of The Fleetwoods, The Ventures, Sonics and Frantics.

The Blue Notes formed in 1957 with original members Bill Engelhart, Frank Dutra, Buck Ormsbey and Lassie Aanes. They would meet after school in Bill's dads garage to practice. Before long they were drawing crowds on the street outside. To date The Blue Notes (from that era) are the only NW band with an original member still performing on a consistent basis today.

In a career that spans over 40 years , Bill has played nearly every club and concert hall in the Northwest, including such legendary venues as Parkers Ballroom, The Aquarius, The Spanish Castle, and Lake Hills Roller Rink. The band still performs over a hundred shows a year.

"You hear this voice...raw, rough and plain, with a wry twist that comes right out of too many nights on the road, a little like Joe Tex, with some Ray Charles Thrown in, and further back, some kind of sad, low moan from the country." Paul de' Barros - Downbeat Magazine

COLONEL and DOUBLESHOT

Curran “el Colonel” Stromberg hailed from Pasadena California originally, and has been playing blues music of all shades at Festivals, Clubs, Showcase Theaters, and private events for 20 years now in the Northwest. He has studied 50s and 60s R&B with the likes of Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Albert King and BB King.

El Colonel was nominated twice for “Best Male Vocalist” by the Washington Blues Society in 2006 and 2008. His CD is in the works, and will be out this year in 2011. It will have 10 original numbers, as well as 2 traditional covers.

El Colonel loves to play da blues in it's purest form, and never leaves an audience hungry.

HOLMES SHEA BAND

In 2004, John Holmes and Jamie Shea joined forces to create The Holmes Shea Band as a vehicle for their energetic original rock, ballads and jazzy rhythm & blues. Jamie's vocals and keyboard and John's guitar and vocals are augmented by the solid rhythm section of Michael O'Neal on drums/vocals, Mark Gowan on bass, and Oscar de la Rosa on latin percussion/vocals and often features the flute & saxophone acrobatics of Mark Kelly and John Anderson.

Jamie Shea has been performing as a singer and keyboardist for most of her life. She began singing folk songs in a coffee house when she was 14 and soon thereafter joined the first of many rock and pop bands. In the 70's she toured extensively with the bands Potbelly, Burning Ground, Apricot Brandy, and the Wayne Bell Revue while sporadically studying voice and music theory. Raising a family kept her closer to home in the Pacific Northwest with bands Chrome Dinette. What the Chelm and The Walrus (with whom she also currently performs).

Although throughout her musical career Jamie had occasionally written her own songs, meeting up with John Holmes in 2003 was instrumental in opening the songwriting floodgates! Jamie enjoys exploring various musical genres writing songs ranging from the middle-eastern feel of "Sacred Money" to the New Orleans style blues whimsey of "Knocking on My Door."

John Holmes started writing songs in the late 60's and played in Seattle in the 70's performing with the bands Lost Continent and Spectacle. After having a family and moving to Mount Vernon his focus became more towards writing music and lyrics and he established his own recording studio (Wired Homes Studio) in the mid 90's as a tool for recording his songs and those of many friends and songwriters in the Northwest. The studio collective has thrived on the creative energy and friendships of local musicians. There have been recording projects by Rick Epting, Ira Fein, Li Gold, Wedge Michaels as well as 2 projects with Ron Weyers, Sunrise and Caught Up In A Web, and 2 projects with John Savage, Walkin' In The Sand and Old Moonshine

Philosophy: The creative process is one that enables us all to communicate what we're feeling and experiencing each in our own unique way. When we are allowed to indulge in this creative process in an uninhibited and non-judgmental manner it becomes a therapy of a kind in that it allows expression of anything in any way that we feel like.